While guidance on scenarios involving introduced and translocated populations are provided inthe Guidance Document, a few aspects will be discussed here as it may affect how you quantify the number of extant populations for the species. Specifically, in the case of introductions, an assessor must make the determination as to whether a population represents its own ‘native’ gene pool (e.g. the gene pool that existed prior to the introduction) or whether the population is made of individuals from another population (and/or may have been through bottlenecks, translocations and mixing from other populations). In the latter case, the ‘population’ is being created in space/ geography, but the original genetic lineage of that space (population A) no longer exists. We consider that in such cases, the genetic composition now at population A’s location would not represent the original population A. Thus, the individuals now at location A should be considered as an expanded Nc of the lineage that it is being translocated from (e.g., Population B). This information should be factored into the details of Population B and NOT provided as a separate population or part of Population A. Population A should be considered extirpated as its original genetic composition is not restored. On the other hand, restoration may be taking place with individuals originally obtained from population A and kept ex situ and then used for restoration. In this instance, this population may be considered a translocated Population A. Please clarify these details in Q48.
If multiple estimates of Ne or Nc exist for a given population, and the assessor, to the best of their knowledge, cannot determine which would be the most appropriate or accurate to report on, then the assessor will need to complete the entire Kobo form for the same species again noting these alternative population size estimates. A specific noteMUST be made on both forms explaining the situation so that evaluators can be made aware and review the records together. The evaluator may then average the available population sizes for that population as a final estimate.